diff --git a/dopt.TOM/Plugin.cs b/dopt.TOM/Plugin.cs
index dcbcbe2..efe43be 100644
--- a/dopt.TOM/Plugin.cs
+++ b/dopt.TOM/Plugin.cs
@@ -15,13 +15,25 @@ namespace dopt.TOM
         protected dynamic tomWrapperPipelines;
         public Plugin(string runtimePath = "") : base(SharpPython.PyOptimLevels.O, threaded: false, runtimePath: runtimePath, verbose: true) 
         {
+            // keep these env variables within C#, but set them again in Python to mitigate issues in propagation from C# to Python
+            Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("LANG_MAIN_BASE_FOLDERNAME", langMainBaseFolderName, EnvironmentVariableTarget.Process);
+            Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("LANG_MAIN_STOP_SEARCH_FOLDERNAME", langMainStopSearchFolderName, EnvironmentVariableTarget.Process);
+            Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("DOPT_TOM_PLUGIN_LIBRARY_USAGE", doptTOMPluginLibraryUsage, EnvironmentVariableTarget.Process);
+            
             base.Initialise();
+            
             using (Py.GIL())
             {
                 dynamic os = Py.Import("os");
-                os.putenv("LANG_MAIN_BASE_FOLDERNAME", langMainBaseFolderName);
-                os.putenv("LANG_MAIN_STOP_SEARCH_FOLDERNAME", langMainStopSearchFolderName);
-                os.putenv("DOPT_TOM_PLUGIN_LIBRARY_USAGE", doptTOMPluginLibraryUsage);
+                // set environment variables directly in Python
+                using (PyDict kwargs = new PyDict())
+                {
+                    kwargs.SetItem("LANG_MAIN_BASE_FOLDERNAME", new PyString("bin"));
+                    kwargs.SetItem("LANG_MAIN_STOP_SEARCH_FOLDERNAME", new PyString("python"));
+                    kwargs.SetItem("DOPT_TOM_PLUGIN_LIBRARY_USAGE", new PyString("1"));
+                    // Call function with no positional arguments, only keyword arguments
+                    os.environ.update.Invoke(new PyTuple(), kwargs);
+                }
                 tomWrapperPipelines = Py.Import("tom_plugin.pipeline");
             }
         }
diff --git a/dopt.TOM/dopt.TOM.csproj b/dopt.TOM/dopt.TOM.csproj
index 92c9f75..4c31f94 100644
--- a/dopt.TOM/dopt.TOM.csproj
+++ b/dopt.TOM/dopt.TOM.csproj
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
   <PropertyGroup>
     <TargetFramework>netstandard2.0</TargetFramework>
     <PlatformTarget>x64</PlatformTarget>
-    <Version>0.1.3-alpha1</Version>
+    <Version>0.1.3</Version>
     <Platforms>x64</Platforms>
   </PropertyGroup>
 
diff --git a/dopt.TOMTests/Tests.cs b/dopt.TOMTests/Tests.cs
index 5c06f55..284a985 100644
--- a/dopt.TOMTests/Tests.cs
+++ b/dopt.TOMTests/Tests.cs
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
     [TestClass]
     public sealed class PluginTests
     {
-        public const string rtPath = @"A:\Arbeitsaufgaben\MOP-TOM\tom-plugin-deploy\bin";
+        public const string rtPath = @"A:\Arbeitsaufgaben\MOP-TOM\deployment\integration-test\bin";
         public const string dummyData = @"Dummy_Dataset_N_1000.csv";
         [TestMethod]
         public void RunPipelineOnTestData()